instead of saying conventional things like "have a nice day," or "have a good day," my grandfather (pop-pop) would always say "have a large day." yeah, i come from good stock. and i am writing this blog because i have just had myself a rather large day. here are the details:
of course there was the usual, taking care of the baby (which involves trach-care, g-tube care, getting dressed, love, chest PT, equipment checks, emails to nursing agencies, formula mixing, love, emails to medical equipment supply companies, love, love, love, cold washcloths for his tooth that's coming through, love, walks through the neighborhood, bouncing, flying, love, bottle-feeding, tube-feeding, spoon-feeding, love, love, reading books, talking, joking, love, jumping, bath, more trach care, more g-tube care, changing trach-ties, love, changing into pee-jays, more chest PT, love, medications all day long, talking to the home-health nurse, love, and i'm sure there's more that i'm leaving out but that's a pretty good depiction.
and then there was that dinner i cooked: chicken burritos. yum. i'm about to go make myself another one just because i brought up the subject. enough said.
board game. this was brought on inconspicuously by me and aaron laying on the couch, bored for maybe one minute. so i looked at him and said "wanna play a game?" so we ended up playing apples to apples. it is the kind of game where more is merrier, so we invited billy and rowan to play along. since it is a card game where you essentially pick a card, we just held the choices up in front of the baby and he got his chance to make a choice. he did that by either smiling at a card, trying to grab a card, or headbutting a card. he was a good little player and actually ended up WINNING the game! yay rowan! mommy couldn't be more proud :)
curling my hair. yeah you heard it first. i actually spent time on my looks. i am moving up in the world. rowan helped me put my hair in curlers and i must say it looks GOOD.
about ten tons of laundry.
kalhua. mi-mi (pop-pop's wife)'s recipe. passed down the generations to little old me. i made 24 pints this evening which are currently sitting in darkness for one month until they can be brought out and given away as christmas presents and consumed in people's living rooms as white russians. i have made kahlua for the past 5 or 7 years (not sure) save last year (due to the bedrest issue) according to mi-mi's recipe so that in itself is big for me.
pumped 6-7 times. also good.
watched the steeler's game. or at least payed a small amount of attention to the steeler's game while making kahlua in the kitchen.
listened to a "this american life" episode about penn state. i'm not penn state alumni or even a fan, but it made me shed a few tears.
i haven't really sat down and rested or reflected on my day until right now. i haven't had a chance. so i think that qualifies as a large day. maybe humongous, but i'm not trying to brag. we'll just call it large and leave it at that.
here's to hoping tomorrow's just as big :)
28 November 2011
26 November 2011
The last ten movies I watched
1) Black Hole (1979) - I found the soundtrack LP to this movie in a thrift store maybe a year ago. John Barry is the composer. Space music is always nice. I had some drinks while watching this which helped a bit with the movie. The late seventies special effects are what you'd expect. I rate this movie a "Strong Meh".
2) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) - Seen bits and pieces of this over the years, never the whole thing. This has been on my list to watch for years (keep a list, it will help with all your obsessions). Stanley Kubrick did a nice job with this Aurthur C. Clarke story. This one is well worth watching. But seriously, what the fuck is the ending all about? I had some drinks watching this and got up to piss a few times. I couldn't find the remote control so I didn't bother with pausing it. Maybe I missed something but is Jupiter just one big embryo? I might have to IMDB this one, I don't quite understand it. Scratching my head, I rate this movie as "Watch This Shit, Homie".
3) Dog Day Afternoon (1975) - This is when people with balls made movies. I have seen this a number of times. I find acting pretentious and bad acting down right insulting. This movie is neither. It's about a bank robbery gone bad. If you haven't seen this this you should remove your shoe and smack yourself on the head with it. I rate this movie as "You Should Have Already Seen This".
4) Tell Them Who You Are (2005) - This movie is about Haskell Wexler. Wexler was known for being a camera man with a bad attitude. He also did some directing. He was fired from the filming of One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. He comes across as a cranky old man. His son made this movie and should listen to his fathers constant yacking at him about lighting and sound. This does not come across as made by a pro. Unless you are somehow related to Wexler I don't know why this would be interesting to anyone. I rate this "Yawn".
5) Secret of NIMH (1982) - I used to catch this cartoon movie on television throughout my youth. I found it terrifying, fascinating and down right awesome. It appealed to me on so many level as a kid in the 80's. It's not too long and moves quickly. Go out and watch it if ya can. I rate this "Watch This Shit, Homie".
6) Nashville (1975) - Very long movie satire about Nashville at the height of country music. The big joke is summarized at the beginning of the movie when all there is a traffic jam due to an accident. Everyone gets out of their vehicles only to realize they are all country stars or aspiring country stars. That's all you really need to know about this movie. I rate is a "Strong Meh".
7) Jeremiah Johnson (1972) - Great movie about a dude who goes out into the wilderness to become (I think) a fur trapper. Staring Robert Redford. He encounters friendly and hostile Indians, an eccentric bear hunter, a dude buried up to his head in sand and a dude frozen to a tree. My only complaint is that there is too much talking in this movie. That's a joke. There is not much dialogue. I rate this movie as "Watch this Shit, Homie."
8) The Endless Summer (1966) - Perhaps my favorite documentary of all time. This film follows two California surfers who chase summer, and the perfect wave, across the globe. You don't have to be a surfer to enjoy this film. I've never surfed in my life. In fact the film appears to be aimed at people who don't surf. This movie is hilarious. You have got to stop reading this and go watch it. I rate this as "You Should Have Already Seen This".
9) Land of the Lost (2009) - Will Ferrell has a few decent moments as he tends to do, but this movie was boring. I got drunk and fell asleep writing in my man-diary to this movie. Think it has something to do with dinosaurs. I rate this a "Strong Meh".
10) Never Been Done (2004) - This is the story of pro skater Jon Comer. It's an inspiring story of a young man who lost a foot as a kid but became a pro skater against all odds. That's really all there is to tell you. Comer has a good sense of humor and seems like a decent and humble hardworking fellow. I rate this "Watch this Instead of the Mighty Ducks Next Time You're in the Mood for an Underdog Story".
Thanks for reading. Billy Falls for Look Everyone I Wrote a Blog Productions. 2011.
2) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) - Seen bits and pieces of this over the years, never the whole thing. This has been on my list to watch for years (keep a list, it will help with all your obsessions). Stanley Kubrick did a nice job with this Aurthur C. Clarke story. This one is well worth watching. But seriously, what the fuck is the ending all about? I had some drinks watching this and got up to piss a few times. I couldn't find the remote control so I didn't bother with pausing it. Maybe I missed something but is Jupiter just one big embryo? I might have to IMDB this one, I don't quite understand it. Scratching my head, I rate this movie as "Watch This Shit, Homie".
3) Dog Day Afternoon (1975) - This is when people with balls made movies. I have seen this a number of times. I find acting pretentious and bad acting down right insulting. This movie is neither. It's about a bank robbery gone bad. If you haven't seen this this you should remove your shoe and smack yourself on the head with it. I rate this movie as "You Should Have Already Seen This".
4) Tell Them Who You Are (2005) - This movie is about Haskell Wexler. Wexler was known for being a camera man with a bad attitude. He also did some directing. He was fired from the filming of One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. He comes across as a cranky old man. His son made this movie and should listen to his fathers constant yacking at him about lighting and sound. This does not come across as made by a pro. Unless you are somehow related to Wexler I don't know why this would be interesting to anyone. I rate this "Yawn".
5) Secret of NIMH (1982) - I used to catch this cartoon movie on television throughout my youth. I found it terrifying, fascinating and down right awesome. It appealed to me on so many level as a kid in the 80's. It's not too long and moves quickly. Go out and watch it if ya can. I rate this "Watch This Shit, Homie".
6) Nashville (1975) - Very long movie satire about Nashville at the height of country music. The big joke is summarized at the beginning of the movie when all there is a traffic jam due to an accident. Everyone gets out of their vehicles only to realize they are all country stars or aspiring country stars. That's all you really need to know about this movie. I rate is a "Strong Meh".
7) Jeremiah Johnson (1972) - Great movie about a dude who goes out into the wilderness to become (I think) a fur trapper. Staring Robert Redford. He encounters friendly and hostile Indians, an eccentric bear hunter, a dude buried up to his head in sand and a dude frozen to a tree. My only complaint is that there is too much talking in this movie. That's a joke. There is not much dialogue. I rate this movie as "Watch this Shit, Homie."
8) The Endless Summer (1966) - Perhaps my favorite documentary of all time. This film follows two California surfers who chase summer, and the perfect wave, across the globe. You don't have to be a surfer to enjoy this film. I've never surfed in my life. In fact the film appears to be aimed at people who don't surf. This movie is hilarious. You have got to stop reading this and go watch it. I rate this as "You Should Have Already Seen This".
9) Land of the Lost (2009) - Will Ferrell has a few decent moments as he tends to do, but this movie was boring. I got drunk and fell asleep writing in my man-diary to this movie. Think it has something to do with dinosaurs. I rate this a "Strong Meh".
10) Never Been Done (2004) - This is the story of pro skater Jon Comer. It's an inspiring story of a young man who lost a foot as a kid but became a pro skater against all odds. That's really all there is to tell you. Comer has a good sense of humor and seems like a decent and humble hardworking fellow. I rate this "Watch this Instead of the Mighty Ducks Next Time You're in the Mood for an Underdog Story".
Thanks for reading. Billy Falls for Look Everyone I Wrote a Blog Productions. 2011.
24 November 2011
so thankful
i wanted to write a big long thankfulness blog for today, with lots of heartwarming pictures. but, my SD card on my camera is acting up, and it won't let me upload anything. and i can't remember all the happy crappy thankfulness stuff i was going to write about before. and maybe it was meant to be, because the truth is, this is not an easy time for my family. we are extremely limited in what we can do. some of the people i love are sick. i wasn't able to go to my aunt's thanksgiving dinner like i normally would. but i did make a rockin' turkey dinner for me and billy and aaron, and rowan got to eat his first jar of baby-food turkey dinner. i got to see my dad and my sister, who are both doing well. and considering last year on this day i woke up 21 weeks pregnant in a pool of my own blood, on my 6th week of bedrest, just praying like hell to make it to 24 weeks (babies born before that gestational age are usually not resuscitated), it's pretty easy for me to say i'm thankful. i'm thankful for my ability to get out of bed and make dinner. i'm thankful to be able to clean my own house. i'm thankful to be able to walk my dog. i'm thankful for my family. and i'm so thankful for my sweet baby boy. happy thanksgiving. love, erin
22 November 2011
recipe for the best pumpkin pie in the WORLD
aunt becky's pumpkin pie
use a longneck pumpkin or butternut squash. cut into 2-3 inch slices. remove seeds. place in pan (face-down) with a little water in the bottom for 45 minutes or until "fork soft" (meaning you can poke throught it easily with a fork). cut out the meat and crush it lightly with a fork.
for each pie, use:
1 1/4 cups cooked pumpkin
2 tbsp butter
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp flour
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 can evaporated milk
mix the wet ingredients together, then add the pumpkin, then add the dry ingredients.
bake at 425 for the first ten minutes
bake at 350 for an additional 30-40 minutes
the pie is done when it is "springy"
sprinkle the top with cinnamon while hot
and there you have it folks, there is the recipe for the pumpkin pie i've been lucky enough to have eaten every thanksgiving for my entire life, made possible by my awesome aunt Becky. trust me, this is the best pumpkin pie in the WORLD!
use a longneck pumpkin or butternut squash. cut into 2-3 inch slices. remove seeds. place in pan (face-down) with a little water in the bottom for 45 minutes or until "fork soft" (meaning you can poke throught it easily with a fork). cut out the meat and crush it lightly with a fork.
for each pie, use:
1 1/4 cups cooked pumpkin
2 tbsp butter
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp flour
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 can evaporated milk
mix the wet ingredients together, then add the pumpkin, then add the dry ingredients.
bake at 425 for the first ten minutes
bake at 350 for an additional 30-40 minutes
the pie is done when it is "springy"
sprinkle the top with cinnamon while hot
and there you have it folks, there is the recipe for the pumpkin pie i've been lucky enough to have eaten every thanksgiving for my entire life, made possible by my awesome aunt Becky. trust me, this is the best pumpkin pie in the WORLD!
21 November 2011
lots has happened in the three or so months since i've updated this site, but i definitely don't have time to share it all while i'm here at work and (once again) writing from behind a breastpump. yes...i am still pumping. my goal is to make it through the winter...to hopefully help rowan fight off any nasty cold/flu viruses he may encounter. i probably won't know what to do with myself after i stop i'll have so much time on my hands...(yeah right.) but anyway, the biggest news is that rowan's home vent nurse practitioner told me that she anticipates being able to start the vent weaning process when we go back to visit in january.
WOOT
WOOT!
supposedly weaning is a long process...we were told 6 months or so if all goes well, but it will be so very exciting to start. to even unhook him from that big heavy machine for fifteen minutes and just carry him around the house will be such a joy. right now i can't do that without getting a major backache, because it's baby in one arm, vent hanging off the other. if i had time for a chiropractor or some PT i could really use it, because my back is KILLING me!
in other news, rowan is sitting up almost all by himself, for a minute or so at a time. we still keep our arms around him, or at least have soft pillows around him, in case of a topple, but he is doing great. he is playing with all kinds of toys, pulling mom's hair, and taking off his own diapers. he has also been successful at removing his mickey button with the balloon still up. while this is not exactly a good thing, it is a sign of a healthy active baby, so i can't get too upset about it. he can also disconnect his vent circuits from time to time. he hasn't pulled out his trach yet, but we are keeping a close eye on him because i'm pretty sure he could if left to his own devices.
okay, that's all i can really update for now because break-time is over, and i gotta go save some lives.
later!
WOOT
WOOT!
supposedly weaning is a long process...we were told 6 months or so if all goes well, but it will be so very exciting to start. to even unhook him from that big heavy machine for fifteen minutes and just carry him around the house will be such a joy. right now i can't do that without getting a major backache, because it's baby in one arm, vent hanging off the other. if i had time for a chiropractor or some PT i could really use it, because my back is KILLING me!
in other news, rowan is sitting up almost all by himself, for a minute or so at a time. we still keep our arms around him, or at least have soft pillows around him, in case of a topple, but he is doing great. he is playing with all kinds of toys, pulling mom's hair, and taking off his own diapers. he has also been successful at removing his mickey button with the balloon still up. while this is not exactly a good thing, it is a sign of a healthy active baby, so i can't get too upset about it. he can also disconnect his vent circuits from time to time. he hasn't pulled out his trach yet, but we are keeping a close eye on him because i'm pretty sure he could if left to his own devices.
okay, that's all i can really update for now because break-time is over, and i gotta go save some lives.
later!
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